-ești is widely used indicating a placename, being in fact a plural of the possessive suffix -escu, formerly used for patronyms and currently widespread for family names.

The obsolete form -esci/-eșci, was sometimes used before the beginning of the 20th century, while another form sometimes found is -ăști. The unrelated Slavic suffixes -ovo, -evo are also found.

In some areas in Romania, more than half of the placenames have this suffix. Overall, this ending is part of the names of 14.8% of the Romanian towns and villages (2,038 out of 13,724) and 11.4% of the Moldovan towns and villages (144 out of 1,254).